F1 | Ocon's maiden win in Hungary good to take some pressure off Alpine, according to the French driver
Esteban Ocon is convinced that his win in Hungary of this season helped Alpine to get rid of some pressure
In 2021, Alpine made some big steps forward. Firstly, they took Fernando Alonso back in F1 and then they conquered a podium with him and, most importantly, a win in Hungary with Esteban Ocon. The maiden one, for the Frenchman.
“Yeah, it’s a great feeling and I’m also glad we’ve got that away also for the team,” – Ocon recalled to Autosport.com.
“Obviously, it’s the first win since the Renault comeback in the new era of Formula 1, so next time hopefully soon that we are going to be in that position, we know how it feels – he added – We don’t have as much pressure; we can just do our job and make it happen.”
Later, the Frenchman focused on how important has been for him having the whole team to support him all along to repeat this win.
“In my case, I’m still working the same way that I did. The guys that I have around me, of course they were really pleased with having that win, it’s the first one for many of them, but we want to have more of those moments, it’s not only one” – he explained.
Après avoir lu quelques tweets, je voudrais clarifier que j’étais au volant de l’A110 Gendarmerie pour un shooting promotionnel organisé par Alpine. https://t.co/YIMCGdTx3o
— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) January 2, 2022
Ocon keeps his feet on the ground, though; as he is aware that many improvements need to be done to be strong competitors in 2022. “We know we have a long way and hard work coming up but it feels obviously good and I’m proud to have lived that with them, with such a talented bunch of people,” – Esteban stated.
“Definitely I think this is what we wanted to do, - Ocon continued – we knew we didn’t have the fastest car, we didn’t have the fastest package overall to be fighting at the front but as soon as there was an opportunity, we were there to be able to take it: Qatar, Saudi, Budapest, almost Sochi for Fernando."
In the conclusive part, he said that he considered 2021 as a good season overall and he and his team have a clear goal for the next season.
"We wanted to operationally be on top of our game and we’ve done that this year. I think we can be proud of that, because that means when we are going to have a fast car, we can be fighting up there with the top cars and the top teams without being afraid.”
